There were plenty of hugs in the Nets locker room Tuesday night after they were eliminated in five games by the Sixers, and more hugs on Wednesday when they gathered their belongings in Brooklyn in preparation for the offseason.

There were congratulations for reaching the postseason for the first time in four years. But players and coaches alike left with the realization the Nets have ample work to do if they are going to be one of the NBA’s elite teams any time soon.

Getting swept four straight games by the Sixers after winning Game 1 in Philadelphia was “humbling,” guard Joe Harris admitted. It also was enlightening.

“We realize what an elite team plays like in the playoffs,” Harris said after Philadelphia whipped the Nets 122-100 at Wells Fargo Center on Tuesday night. “Experience is the best teacher. This is a value-learning experience and should help us going forward.”

This is what the Nets learned. They need to get bigger and more versatile. They can’t afford to be so dependent on 3-point shooting, especially in the playoffs, where scouting and adjustments play such a big role.

The Sixers won this series by beating up the Nets inside in Games 2 and 4, and also by beating them from the outside in Game 3, when 7-foot center Joel Embiid didn’t play. Game 5 featured just about everything in the Sixers’ arsenal — outside shooting and inside muscle.

The Nets didn’t have another option when they struggled with their 3-point shooting. Harris is the prime example of that. He was the league’s best 3-point shooter during the season at 47%. He made just 19% (4-of-21) of his 3-pointers in the series. As a team, the Nets shot 32%. Some of it was simply missed open shots. Much of it was the defensive schemes imposed by the Sixers.

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Without Harris, the Nets train stalled. That needs to be fixed through free agency and the draft. The Nets will and should go after Kevin Durant and Kawhi Leonard but can’t bet on them coming to Brooklyn, so it will be up to GM Sean Marks to find a power forward and other pieces to operate inside as well as outside.

At least Marks finally has a first-round draft pick to add to a young nucleus that includes Harris, D’Angelo Russell, Spencer Dinwiddie and Caris LeVert, who probably was the Nets’ best offensive player in the series.

But the Nets need an inside game, too. They need Jarrett Allen to get bigger and stronger, so he’s not knocked around the way he was by the Sixers. And he needs another big body to help him.

“I think Jarrett Allen is the key to this franchise moving forward,” said Jared Dudley. “The bigger he gets, the better he gets defensively and becomes a demanding force, the sky’s the limit for this team.”

The Nets’ biggest decision could be deciding whether to sign Russell to a max deal should another team make the restricted free agent that kind of an offer for the Nets to match.

Russell was an All-Star this year, but had a pedestrian series, averaging 19.4 points and shooting 36% from the field and 32.5% from 3-point range. Brooklyn loves Russell and Russell loves Brooklyn, but a max contract might tie up too much money for one player without stronger complementary parts. Renouncing Russell could clear enough cap space to pursue two top-tier free agents — something the Nets shouldn’t ignore.

“Sean Marks is a hell of GM,” said Dudley, one of the Nets’ veteran free agents, along with DeMarre Carroll and Ed Davis. “He’s got a lot of pieces to play with. What you know is … you have a young core that’s going to get better.”